return;

Personally I think that leaving a return statement at the end of a method whether you need one or not lets everyone know you really did mean to end the method there.

 /**
  * assign an interview to a person
  * 
  * @param personId
  * @param interviewName
  */
 @Oneway
 @WebMethod(operationName="assign")
 public void assign(
   @WebParam(name = "personId") String personId, 
   @WebParam(name = "interviewName") String interviewName
 ){
  InterviewEngine.assign(em, personId, interviewName);
  return;
 }

In other words, "Yes kids, I did mean to return there, no I didn't nod off and forget to finish the method."

A big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff

Doctor Who is just great. I wish I got BBC over here.

The Technology Lifestyle

Being an Information Technology worker of any kind is just as much about lifestyle as it is about technology. Any other discipline gets to go home at night and just relax. If doctors and lawyers go golfing but what do they carry with them on the golf course? Blackberries.

If you are an IT worker on the golf course with a Blackberry you haven't escaped your technology at all have you? There it is, in your car, on your hip, on the TV and in your PC. The modern world is so dependent on IT technology we don't even notice it anymore.

But, the IT worker does see the technology embedded in every part of our lives. It is always there. Even camping doesn't afford a break from it. So is it no surprise that the most successful IT people are a little obsessive?

That obsessive tendency is a necessary component of the successful IT person because technology is always changing and it is everywhere. It it almost never works right.

We're at the end of the Universe...

... at the edge of knowledge itself and your busy... blogging!

Velocity Engine

I've been working with Velocity in Portlets and DWR (version 2) and found that I had to write my own Velocity utils to allow the DWR and generic Portlets to share context. I know there are velocity portlet classes our there but they are usually for a specific system of portals. Personally, I'm trying to write velocity portlets that can load on Liferay, JBoss, or any other Portal system.

As I was searching around at the start of the project I found that there were no portlet classes for velocity based portlets that were written generically to plug into any portal system. I ended up writing a short Velocity utility class to glue the two contexts together.

The new MVC is DSP

In many of my current projects MVC can be broken into Database, Web Service, and Web Page. I call this a DSP application. The Service can be turned to work with a cell phone applet later. I suspect this is the logic behind no API for the iPhone.

Star Wars Fans

In a room full of Star Wars fans there is always one Jar-Jar. If you can't see the Jar-Jar then you're it.

Stuplexity

Stuplexity: A solution that is provided to solve a problem in an extremely non-obvious complex manner when a simple and obvious solution is readily available is said to possess stuplexity.

Example: "The stuplexity of this code is so amazing, I wonder if the programmer knew what a procedure was?"

An informed opinion...

To have an informed opinion one must stay informed.

By population...

I just happened to run across this statistic that makes me wonder what kinds of effects the additional one billion computers expected in the next five years will have if they are mostly owned by Asian users. Programming languages today are structured around western languages. In particular English. If you are not a native English speaker I wouldn't be surprised if some of the prevalent programming constructs aren't alien because they are tailored to an English speaking mind.

Idea: Virtual Neural Net Hardware

In this conversation on slashdot I discuss the possibility of simulating asynchronous neuron interactions in virtual hardware. Specifically I conjecture that the DBus architecture is the right model to attach asynchronous networks to. Hind sight being 20/20 I wish I had developed a prototype of this concept before blurting out the idea on Slashdot. Since the deed is done. I wonder how much interest there is on the internet for developing technology like this. I also wonder if I will play any meaningful part in its development.

I do have quite a few other technologies after my attention. It would be nice if I could use my time to investigate those ideas instead of the ones I get paid for.

Path to Linux happiness: keep it tiny

The number one piece of advice I have for anyone trying to use Linux is: "Only install what you need to survive!" The reason is simple. The more packages you install the more likely it is you'll run into some kind of conflict. The more packages you install the more potential patches you'll need. The more you install the less drive space you'll have.

Keep your Linux install small. If you need that industrial strength hair dryer go ahead and pack it along, but be prepared to ditch something else. For example if you need Beryl you may need to avoid certain graphics packages.